on the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the justice department. many of the event we were planning on covering has been canceled as well as of the weather. secretary of state john kerry is scheduled to speak at the american israel public affairs committee, or aipac, conference. live coverage of that begins at 5 p.m. with the israeli prime minister speaking at 6:15 p.m. meets with president obama at the white house. the associated press reporting that russia's foreign minister says his troops have been streaming into neighboring ukraine to protect russian citizens there. ukraine is accusing russia of a military invasion and is calling on the kremlin to pull its troops out of crimea. you and secretary-general ban ki-moon will meet with the russian foreign minister today discuss the situation. secretary of state john kerry will be traveling to ukraine tomorrow.

as a direct counter to president obama's recent emphasis on the gap between rich and poor, a recommendation of a sweeping overhaul on head start and medicaid. page batik -- underscoring where republicans say consolidation for spending reductions are needed. >> the internet as we know it today bears no resemblance to monopoly telephone service back in the 1930's and 1940's and 1950's. what the courts have said and what the congress supports is, if i walk into a grocery store and i buy a gallon of milk and i pay $3.50 per gallon, if i pie

-- if i die 10 gallon, i pay $35 for all -- if i purchased 10 gallons, i pay $35 for all 10 gallons. what they are trying to say is you can use as much milk as you want and only paid $3.50. that is just wrong. sometimes when people use netflix to download their movies, sometimes the total volume is up to 30%. sometimes netflix should pay more than someone who uses the internet and -- internet once a month. these companies have spent billions and billions of dollars to set up their systems and to and thethe fiber optics mega-speeds that we just take for granted on a volumetric basis. at some level, they should be allowed to charge based on volume. >> net neutrality, spectrum auctions, and other telecom issues tonight on the communicators at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2.

a reminder that in a couple of minutes, the american-israel public affairs committee, or aipac, will begin its annual conference here in washington. arizona senator john mccain is scheduled to talk at 10:10 a.m. eastern. we will have live coverage while that gets underway. while we wait, more of this mornings "washington journal." host: josh rogin of "the daily beast." welcome. tell us where the administration finds itself with what is going on in ukraine. guest: what a crazy weekend. on thursday, the intelligence community predicted that putin would not invade ukraine. by friday afternoon, president obama admitted the invasion was underway. they scrambled to figure out a way in which they could respond in real time, to show the russians that we were serious about objections to its actions.

secondly, there was a parallel process going on behind the scenes. --devise made and long-term mid-and long-term options. a lot of this we reported this morning in the daily beast. sanctions that could lead to an executive order that would punish putin and put additional pressure on the russian federation to reverse the progress of its forces over the past few days. most of these tools are sanctions that can be imposed without congress. some of them involve targeting russian village -- business leaders, military leaders. separatists and crimeans who have taken over government buildings have also become targets. another set of options involves removing russia from diplomatic and political bilateral and multilateral interactions.

there were trade missions canceled. naval cooperation talks canceled. energy cooperation talks were canceled. the obama administration has placed a hold on all aspects of bilateral interaction. until the crisis in crimea is further resolved. host: is it enough to have sanctions to influence what is going on in ukraine? guest: the economic situation in russia may be more vulnerable to economic pressure than most people think. this is according to senior officials. they think that the russian ruble will tumble. willinvestment in russia fall. and that this will have a cumulative effect to pushing those who can influence moscow to have a change of calculus. other analysts are not so sure. the russian system is extremely opaque. not a lot of good data is coming out. they have the ability to manipulate that data.

putin has taken the decision that whatever costs or pressure he has to suffer under, he is willing to take those costs. he still sees the benefits. host: what is the point of all this? from mr. putin's position. guest: for putin, ukraine and crimea are personal issues. he believes, and many russians believe that crimea is russian territory. it was seated to the ukraine in the 1950's in error. the people there identify as russian and crimea should always be a part of russia. there is a nationalistic element, a domestic, political element. secondly, putin has a long-standing policy of projecting russian power.

some will say it is an effort to reconstitute the soviet bloc. i think that goes too far. his view is that russia still has a role to play as a regional. not world hegemon. specialas responsibilities to its region. russia has energy, a black sea fleet that is based in crimea, and they do not want to set precedents to overturn government on their borders. -- that they allow the west to influence the overturning of a government on their borders. the number one priority is survival. as russia looks around the world and see autocratic governments turn over in places like egypt, even though it turned back, and libya and syria. they see this as a slippery slope that could lead to a turnover of the government in moscow.

that is their number one fear. host: were these actions to move troops into russia and the case of what he thinks about president obama? guest: we used to wait until the crisis was over before we would start criticizing the president for being too weak and not responding forcefully enough. these events are happening fast. the history here is that the administration spent 3.5 years reaching out to vladimir putin. about two years ago that policy ended.

both sides know that. this is not the end of the u.s.-russia reset. this is the middle of the next phase. as to whether or not obama's weakness emboldens those around the world, that is not 100% fair. the obama administration always has a broad vision and ideology that includes bringing the u.s. out of the position of active control of all of the world's conflicts. they don't believe america has a preeminent role to play in every situation in the world. you can look at that and say that has left a vacuum for other powers to fill. that, i think, is fair. weakness is pejorative and does not reflect what goes into obama's policy. and that policy is that we should have more sharing of

burdens and power around the world. host: does the idea of sharing power -- you can call in and ask our guest questions. the numbers are on your screen. on whato get your take they said from nato yesterday. brief us on what happens now as far as nato is concerned. [video clip] >> what russia is doing violates the principles of the united nations chapter. -- charter. it threatens peace and security in europe. russia must stop its activities and its threats. we will discuss their implications for european peace and security and for nato's relationship with russia. afterwards, we will meet in the nato- ukraine commission.

we support ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty. we support the rights of the people of ukraine to determine their own future without outside interference. we emphasize the need for ukraine to continue to oppose -- uphold the democratic rights of all people and in that minority rights are protected. ukraine is our neighbor. they are a valued partner for nato. we urge all parties we encourage -- we urge all parties to move away from this danger situation. -- dangerous situation. particular i call on russia , to do yes good tensions. tensions.scalate

guest: it is not everyday a major world power invades a smaller country. that is a big deal. everyone is sounding the alarm and saying this is a crisis that everyone will have to be involved with and will have to respond to. it is not enough to be busy. you have to look busy. that is part of what we're seeing. secondly, this is more a bigger issue for the ee you in some ways than it is -- the eu than it is for the united states. as the ukraine revolution began and went on to december and january, it really was the eu that took the leading role in a lot of cases. they have more economic skin in the game, more leverage, more dependent on the energy that flows through ukraine. when the final deal was made between the government and the opposition, it was the eu that negotiated the deal.

even though that deal only lasts a few hours before yanukovych fled. they have to be part of this. the obama administration has the most tools and the most power, but the eu has the most to lose. the third thing is -- we are talking about how our age everybody is. -- how outraged everyone is. obama said russia must stop. this is what he said in the briefing room on friday. there will be costs. what are those consequences? what are the costs and the enforcement mechanisms to hold russia accountable for the international law they are clearly breaking. the conventional wisdom is that we have few levers of influence to enforce all of these things we are talking about. host: probably no drawing of redlines, as it were? guest: right, the word redline

will never be used again by this administration for obvious reasons. there are plenty of people who will tell you that the drawing of redlines in the serious -- syria debate and the decision not to enforce those redlines enables him to use that real threat against vladimir putin. there is some truth to that of the bottom line is that we will not go to war in ukraine and ukraine is not a nato country we don't have a right to defend them. even ukraine going to war is a worst-case scenario. that was one of the lessons of the russian invasion of georgia in 2008. vladimir putin would love for them to start firing at his troops on that was start a whole host of things he would like to do. including large-scale military invasion. the idea is to de-escalate, to look tough but not necessarily to use all of the weapons in our arsenal white yes. -- in our arsenal quite yet.

host: first call for our guest from chicago, illinois, independent line, good morning. caller: what i would like you to play is the telephone call of the woman and the state department to our ambassador in the ukraine. the thing was, it was her vocabulary at the end but also the discussion of who they wanted to be the leader. the idea that we are not involved -- we were involved before these things happened. the second thing i would like to say is the crimea was given to the ukraine. when a ukrainian was the head of based -- of the soviet union. we often forget, stalin was a georgian. then we have a ukrainian. it was not always a russian that was the head of the soviet union. did the people of crimea ever

had a chance to determine who they wanted to be? guest: you're talking about a leaked phone call from assistant secretary of state for european affairs, victorino and -- victoria newland. this came right at a tense moment in the crisis between the government and the opposition. what the phone call said was she negotiated or tried to negotiate a deal to end the standoff between the government and the opposition. and that negotiation, she used an expletive to describe the european union. it was not very nice of her. in the end, the takeaway from this call were that the u.s. was very heavily involved in trying to negotiate an end to the crisis which is probably a good thing. also, that the russians were taping the phone calls of our u.s. ambassador to the ukraine and leaked them in an intelligence move.

we should not over exaggerate the implications of that call. that's how this plummets he -- that's how diplomacy works. what they are supposed to be doing. they are trying to work things out and when no one's listening, they sometimes use expletives. no big deal. it led to a vulnerability that allowed the russians to accuse americans of outside interference. this is a canard. that's what we do. we do it and the russians do it and the eu does it and everyone interferes all the time. the ideas not to get caught and two when the interference war. the interference war. that was an instance of the intelligence counterespionage. that was overtaken right away. your other point is that the

u.s. and the eu have been over-interfering in the ukraine -- i don't know -- the administration has been more active in the ukraine more than it usually is on this issues. where you sit is where you stand. there has been a lot of act -- activity and none of it has yet to vince vladimir putin to reverse course. the game is not over yet. we are in the first inning of what could be a long match. host: from new york, area independent line, good morning. caller: first the, and then a -- first a comment and then a question -- george orwell wrote that real freedom is being able to say 2+2=4. this was in his fiction book "1984." we have a similar situation in that the government and corporate media are telling the public that the laws of physics have no credibility when physics laws are well established and

have more credibility to most people than the media and the government. how bad do things have to get in the post-9/11 world for the media to realize to stop name-calling people who talk about building seven on 9/11 and do their jobs by using their platforms to write about a real and important issue. guest: i am in the media and i work for a corporation but i can tell you that the corporations not influence my reporting. they leave me alone and let me do it i want. there is a lot of talk about media influence and conspiracy with the government. some of it is based on a couple of bad examples of where that's happened. the official story of the events of 9/11 has been well hashed over over the last 12 years. there are certainly some discrepancies but overall, we are not here to litigate what happened on that tragic day.

i would just say that the history books will have to tackle that one and i encourage you to research it yourself. host: new jersey, republican line. caller: good morning, in 1991 when the soviet union split apart, the ukraine found itself being the owners of the third-largest nuclear armaments. in 1994, because of the concern of the possibilities with a nuclear armaments, countries coerced ukraine into giving up those arms. ukraine at that point knew that that was their ace to protect them against an invasion from russia. nevertheless, they gave up the nuclear armaments. the united states, the united kingdom, and russia all

guaranteed the sovereign borders of ukraine. it seems that what they thought then has come around -- without the nuclear armaments, they are very vulnerable to any invasion from russia. taking it further, host: let's let our guest respond. you put a lot out there. guest: i'm glad you brought up that point. a fascinating issue is what happened in 1994. ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for security guarantees that were negotiated between the u.s., ukraine, the u.k., and russia. it resulted in what known as the budapest memorandum which is the document where russia is never to invade ukraine which they violated this week. the nuclear issue breaks both ways.

on the one hand, if the ukraine had not given up its nuclear weapons, some analysts argue that russia would not have been able to invade. therefore we would not have the crisis today. other people argue that if ukraine had nuclear weapons and russia invaded, we can have a nuclear war on our hands because that would be the only way they could repel the invasion. i don't know. it seems that ukraine with nuclear weapons is more dangerous than ukraine without. it seems that the russians were going to have a huge influence and ukraine whether or not they had nuclear weapons. the way this impacts the does, -- the way that this impacts diplomacy going forward is that the russians violating the budapest memorandum is a point of contention. this is more of a shaming of russia than actual punishment. host: as far as the future of a possible conflict, how does the nationalism issue come in with especially those in crimea and these are part of the country?

-- and those in the eastern part of the country? guest: mark twain once said that got invented war so that thatat god invented war so americans would learn geography. this is where we are catching up on crimea. it is a peninsula that has changed hands multiple times over the centuries. there are people there of all ethnicities. there are ethnic tartars and crimean's and russians and ukrainians. the bottom line is that any fees -- any piece of land, you will always have more than one people claiming supreme ownership. my russian friends tell me that they believe that because the -- that the majority of the spiegel who speak russian, identify themselves as russian. -- that because the majority of the people speak russian, that they have the best claim to it. when the russians invaded, they met almost no resistance.

we should acknowledge that reflects some sort of acceptance by the crimean people. whether or not that justifies limited autonomy for crimea inside ukraine is a political debate. ethnically and culturally, it seems that the crimean people are ok with the russians in control of their peninsula. host: indiana, democrats line. caller: i think vladimir putin is worried about his naval base in crimea. he just signed a new deal with the ousted resident to keep the -- with the ousted president to keep the base there and he is worried about the new president not honoring it. i think vladimir putin is trying to best to protect the naval base. he knows if that goes, he's in trouble. guest: i think the naval base is one important parts of his calculation. the other part is to make sure that russia can influence events in ukraine going forward and having a piece of it covered

with russian soldiers is a good way to do that. he wants to de-stabilize and delegitimize the new leadership in kiev which he views as part of a coup to oust a democratically elected government. having a base in crimea is good for strategic reasons but it is also good because it allows russia to continue to make mischief inside ukraine, to always have an ability to threaten the rest of ukraine and also to keep ukraine from joining international organizations like nato. as long as ukraine is a divided country, they will not be able to enter into defense alliances that require them to have control over their sovereignty or territorial integrity. host: butler, pennsylvania, republican line, good morning. caller: i want to go back farther in the history.

we speak about crimea. the fact is that stalin was removing the tartars which were the majority of the population in the crimea at that time and sending them to siberia. many of those people never got a chance to come back. some did return after stalin died. that is one part that should be taken into consideration. since vladimir putin sent 800 tanks -- it sounds like a lot more serious than the conversations going on. guest: that's a good point. that is a fairly accurate reading of some of the crimean

history. the take away here is that there is not a lot love lost between the crimean's and the kremlin. it's not as if ukrainians in crimea want to be part of russia. that seems not to be the case. they also don't want to be part of the ukraine that is run by the new kiev government. they are seeking some degree of autonomy inside the ukrainian system. yes, russia has committed a lot of atrocities in its history as have many other powers but we are where we are and the crimean's need russia to resist the new government in kiev. it will be interesting how they view this russia influence and occupation once the current crisis has subsided. will they like being under vladimir putin's when there is thumb onceuden

there is no longer a direct threat to their security? host: what is the scope of ukraine military? guest: it is pretty robust. they have 130,000 troops. it is relatively updated armaments but they are no match for the russian military. and they know it. especially in crimea where there is 15,000 russian troops, there is only 3500 lightly armed ukrainian troops and they are surrounded by russian paramilitary and navy seal kind of guys. they are scared. this is a standoff that is unfolding as we speak. right now, they have been told to hold the line and not give up their bases. that could be an untenable position in the long run. the ukrainians know that the worst thing they can do is fall into the trap of attacking the russian army because that would be an existential decision for that ukrainian armed force. they would lose that battle. that is what they are trying to avoid. they are learning the lesson of georgia in 2008 but they have called up the reserves which is a few hundred thousand more troops. these are loyal ukrainians, we

assume they are. -- those are loyal ukrainians, not those loyal to russia. we assume so. it is not entirely clear. the ukrainian armed forces, the leadership has turned over three times during this revolution. the naval chief was said to have been sympathetic to the russians. he went to crimea and had a heart attack. then they replace him with another guy. the military has taken the position they should not get involved in the ongoing political strife. they refused to fire on peaceful protesters which aided the opposition but that could work the other way, they could refuse to step in to defend the duke government that many to -- to defend the new government. the main thing is to stay out of the conflict. everybody knows that. it is not totally clear if that will be possible. host: if conflict happens, who would be the first responders to help militarily internationally to help the ukrainians?

will there be some type of help from any other country? guest:. that's a very open question i do not think there is a high likelihood that nato would respond militarily. the nato military responses operate by consensus which is 27 countries have to agree which is very rare. it happened in libya, barely and is not likely to happen in this situation. especially not in today's climate. in georgia, nobody came to help. it's for a possible that this escalated, we would see a large-scale invasion of ukraine from its eastern border with russia and that would have grave consequences for the ukrainian people. host: ukrainian ambassador to the human was on "state of the union" and talked about expected military help from others. [video clip] >> to address this and stop this aggression, it's the first stage

in until putin has not decided yet the decision of the parliament. secondly, today the parliament and the government addressed the guarantors under the buddha test memorandum -- budapest memorandum -- it was signed on our decision to get rid of nuclear weapons to protect our nuclear objects, namely the nuclear plants. it means that we need military support as well. >> so military support in terms of weaponry but so many, including the united states, seem to at least come very close to ruling out military involvement by other nations. is that your understanding? >> we believe this morning's "washington journal" at this point to go live to the

american-israel public affairs committee annual conference for remarks by senator john mccain. he is being introduced right now. this is live coverage on c-span. >> please join me in welcoming our dear friend, the senior senator from arizona, senator john mccain. [applause] lex thank you very -- >> thank you very much. thank you for those kind words. thank you for not mentioning that i lost running for president of the united states. i thank you. [laughter] after i lost, i slept like a

baby. wake up andurs, cry. sleep two hours. [laughter] i'm very happy to be with you. [applause] and did i mention i asked your sympathy for the families of the state of arizona as barry goldwater ran for president of the united states, morris udall from arizona ran for the president of the united states. arizona may be the only state in america where mothers don't tell their children that someday they can grow up and be president of the united states. [laughter] i ask your sympathy. i noticed that the conference was introduced by my dear and beloved friend, joe lieberman, the finest man i have ever known in my life. [applause] and joe and i travel together

extensively for many, many years , literally every corner of the world. just prior to joe's leaving the senate, there was a wonderful dinner at the israeli embassy for joe, and all of the important people in washington were there. and there was speaker after speaker after speaker extolling his virtues and records and the wonderment and beauty of joe lieberman, and all of it was true. when i was the last speaker. i said, look, i'm not going to tell you about joe lieberman. you've already heard it. but i have an announcement to make. i have spent all of these years with joe lieberman, eating salmon, writing the shabbat elevator, not being able to ride in a car on saturday. i've had to go through all of this all of these years and i've gotten none of the benefits, so i'm announcing my conversion to judaism. [applause]

and joe said, that was great. only, i had to have a brisk. so i change my mind. [laughter] you for being here trying to do the lords work in the city of satan. [laughter] and the snow may have shut down the government, i'm -- but obviously, it can't shut down aipac. [applause] by the way, in case you missed it, only 12% of american approval for congress. we are down to paid staff and blood relatives. [laughter] old -- r is 102 years [applause] day.alled me the other

we are now down to paid staff. [laughter] i really do come to you this morning with a heavy heart, with a heavy heart and great sadness because of events taking place in ukraine. ukraine isppens in directly related to what happens in the middle east, and obviously we know that what happens in the middle east is vital to the existence of the state of israel. i'm not going to go through the history of ukraine with you. but the fact is, crimea is a sovereign part of a sovereign nation of ukraine. and the people of ukraine, by the hundreds of thousands, went to a square in subzero inc. -- theyeezing weather saying did not want to be part of putin's russia. and that is what it was all about. over,at the olympics are immediately afterwards, we now see the occupation of crimea.

and by the way, in case you missed it, one of the reasons why there is a majority population of russians in crimea is because stalin exported all tartar's.rters -- over half of them were killed as he drove them from crimea. the fact is, this is a blatant act of aggression on the part of vladimir putin and one that must be unacceptable to the world community. it cannot stand. [applause] and i have to be very honest with you. there is not a military option that could be exercised now. but the most powerful and biggest and strongest nation in the world should have lengthy of options, and those options are many, ranging from identifying these kleptocratic, these corruption people, and the people who ordered the magnets be at. it could be their last trip to las vegas.

there is a -- there are -- there is a broad array of options. why do we care? because this is the result of an foreignns -- infectious policy where nobody believes in america's strength anymore. [applause] in 2009, many of you may that we saw on youtube, young woman bleed to death in the streets of toronto. the people in their -- in the streets of tehran. the people in iran rose up and said, obama, are you with us or are you with them? the president of the united states did not say a word.

the president of the united states believes the cold war is over. that is fine. it is over. but prudent does not believe it is over. he does not believe this is a zero-sum game. look at month-old, the occupation of georgia, the pressure on the baltic -- look at multiple the, the occupation of georgia, the pressure on the baltic nations. look at what is happening in cities and towns and the countryside all over syria. it is an outrage. and vladimir pruden, while he is cooperate -- vladimir putin, while he is cooperating with us in the removal of chemical weapons, plain after playing of artillery and tanks are landing at the airport in damascus, slaughtering innocent people. hard for a you, it's mother to differentiate whether their child has been killed by a chemical weapon or one of these horrible barrel bombs that are basically cluster bombs that are being dropped on innocent

civilians all over syria. and we have sat by and watched it happen. prevails, it assad will directly endanger the security of the state of israel. it has now turned into a regional conflict. lebanon is destabilized. what do you think 5000 hezbollah fighters will be like when they return from the fighting in syria to southern lebanon? what do you think is going to happen if bashar assad used to prevail, as far as the other nations in the region are concerned? jordan, probably our best friend, is destabilized. the whole situation cries out for american leadership, and i'm sorry to tell you it is mia. let me also -- [applause] by the way, a couple of my favorites. tell vladimir that i'll be more

flexible when i'm reelected. tell vladimir i will be more flexible when i'm reelected. -- when i'm reelected? opinion difference of even amongst our dear friends as to whether sanctions should be passed by the congress of the united states is the talks fail. argument to you is, do you believe in light of recent events of last five years that the iranian mullahs think we are serious? i don't think so. i don't think so. i believe the iranian people can have access to peaceful civilian nuclear energy, but that does not require an industrial uranium enrichment program. it does not require a heavy water reactor. it doesn't require advanced centrifuges, and it certainly does not require nuclear

facilities dug deep into mountains. [applause] i hope as you do that we can find a peaceful resolution to this crisis, and the only reason there may be a modest chance for that now is because of your tireless efforts and support. thank you and god bless you for your tireless effort and support. [applause] i believe we have to keep the pressure on. iran's rulers must know the only alternative to compromising on our terms is even more crippling sanctions or worse. believe the senate should pass a new bipartisan sanctions legislation that would take effect if the current negotiations do not succeed. [applause]

we must stop iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability, and we must do so because the nature of the threat posed by this iranian regime. it is not an arms control challenge. the iranian revolutionary guard is in serious slaughtering people today. slaughtering people today. they are training these extremists and they will not wait. this regime in iran is the world's leading sponsor of terror. it has murdered americans, israelis, and jews across the globe. it is categorically devoted to the destruction of the state of israel. it is training and arming militant groups across the middle east. it is destabilizing its neighbors and meddling in their affairs. it is developing sophisticated ballistic weapons missiles, including icbms that could target america, and more than

any actor, the blood of syria is on a rainy and hands. is on iranian hands. i know they supported the chemical weapons attack of last year. that was a seminal moment. when the president of the united states says that president is going to take military action and does not, that sends a message all the way around the globe as far away as china. [applause] we are not willing to take action when an anti-american, anti-semitic tyrant gases 1400 innocent people to death -- what does it say about us? you did the right thing, and i commend you for it. [applause] you know, a lot of my fellow countrymen say, we are weary of war. we want to get out. i hear this phrase over and over

again. there will never be another land war that the united states engages in post up to you know how many times in history that has been said? do you know how many times prior to world war ii that when hitler marched in to foreign lands and leaders said, we will not march into a place where people do not speak our language and that we do not know. we have to be ready. and as ronald reagan used to say, peace through strength, not through weakness and not through cutting our defense budgets back to the smallest army we have had since prior to world war ii. [applause] you, my friends, i see americans who want our country to being gauged in events beyond our borders. i see americans who want an internationalist foreign policy. i see americans who want our country to stand with israel and our other partners. i see americans who want -- to

are willing to spend their hard-earned tax dollars on foreign assistance and strengthen the greatest military the world has ever known. i see americans who want america to lead. [applause] my friends, i've been around a long time. and in fact, since the coolidge administration. [laughter] you, i'ved say to never seen this world in need of strong american leadership the way it is today. and i believe these events, these negotiations with iran, which i hope to succeed but i doubt, when i see the slaughter in syria, when i see the chinese asia,ing themselves in when i see significant cuts in foreign aid and also in our defense budget, i'm worried.

word to you my dear and --oved friends, america israel needs you more today than ever before. thank you and god bless. [applause] >> senator john mccain this morning at the aipac conference. you can see his comments any time at our website www.c-span.org. secretary of state john kerry will also be speaking later today. live coverage getting underway at 5:00 eastern. traveling tory ukraine tomorrow. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is scheduled to speak to the group tomorrow. he is meeting with president obama at the white house today. any comments that come out of that meeting will be here on the c-span networks. the washington area has a major snowstorm today. the federal government is closed and the house announced last night it will not be in session. the senate is voting on the

nomination of assistant attorney general for general -- four civil rights at the justice department. we do understand the senate will be in session today starting at 2:00 p.m. eastern. president obama will release his budget tomorrow and wednesday, saying -- treasury secretary jack lew will be go -- will go before the senate finance committee. live coverage starts at 10:30 a.m. eastern and we invite you to share your comment on facebook and twitter. >> the new www.c-span.org website makes it easy for you to find and watch all of c-span's extensive coverage on official washington. look for it on our homepage in a space called "federal focus peer ." house andou will find senate coverage, congressional committee hearings, press

briefings from the white house, capitol hill, the state department, and the pentagon. plus, selected supreme court oral arguments and appearances by the justices. watch live or on your own schedule. federal focus on www.c-span.org making it easy to keep tabs on what is happening in congress, the white house, and the courts. campaign to prevent gun violence released a report last week saying the brady law has prevented more than 2 million illegal gun purchases. it was first enacted 20 years ago. activist and victims of gun violence marked the anniversary by calling for background checks online and at gun shows. their comments are about half an hour. , and welcome.g i'm dan gross, president of the brady campaign to prevent gun violence to my and we are very pleased to be here to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the brady law and to release

our new report. but before we get to those things, we wanted to begin by , whyng why we are all here our mission is so vitally important, and why we cannot ever give up. >> good morning. my name is kenny barnes. i am a victim of senseless gun violence. this is a picture of my son, kenny junior, who was killed september 24, 2001, right here in washington, d.c. he was a victim of senseless gun violence.

>> good morning. my name is eddie weingart. 33 years ago on february 22, 19 81, my mother was shot to death in front of me. the gun was also turned on me. unfortunately, it met -- and fortunately, it malfunction. i'm here today with other survivors of gun violence to demand that the job be finished. >> i'm here on behalf of my husband, roosevelt kirkendall junior, who was robbed and 1972 in on august 11, the streets of new jersey. it still seems like yesterday, because my family still misses him. families,of other let's finish the job. >> my name is peter reid.

my daughter, mary, was one of 32 students and faculty who were shot to death on the campus of virginia tech on april 16, 2007. and we believe that with better and fully implemented background checks, these kinds of tragedies can be prevented. sex my name is raven burgess. i'm a survivor of gun violence. 29, 2013. may i'm here to promote and help and ensure that this ends. thank you. >> my name is alex. i'm here for my sister, who was killed by a stalker. he purchased a gun on the internet. without any kind of background -- backgroundp

check. i'm here to permit this from happening widely like that. thank you. >> good morning. birdsongs cheryl and -- cheryl birdsong and i'm here in honor of i husband, ricky birdsong, who was a basketball coach. 99 -- 1999ed in 19 by a man who was a convicted felon, but in spite of that was able to buy a gun from an unlicensed gun dealer without a background check. >> my name is sarah brady. i'm here on behalf of my husband , jim bair brady, who was loaded in the assassination attempt on ronald reagan in 1981.

>> my name is dan gross. i'm here for my brother, matthew , who was shot in the head atop the empire state building in february of 1997. and for my dear friend, christopher burmeister, who was killed that day. and for the 90 americans who are killed every day by a bullet. and for everyone of us who just wants to live in a safer nation. today, as i said, we are here to mark the 20 year anniversary of what could fairly be called the greatest, most significant step forward toward that goal of a safer nation. the brady handgun violence prevention act, which took , andt 20 years ago today to introduce this special report that we have issued to celebrate the success of the historic

legislation and to define the critical work that lies ahead, 20 years of brady background checks, the case for finishing the job to keep america safer. first, i would like to thank some of our special guests here. course, the victims and families that have joined us here today. i know i speak for all of us here and so many across america how much you all inspire all of us to continue , a lot of which is on behalf of the loved ones that you have lost. our very important partners from ,he law enforcement community we appreciate your strong representation here today. your voices are very important in these efforts. , who truly leaders are representing the voice of the american public on this issue in congress, leader pelosi

and representative thomson, thank you for everything that you do. some of our predecessors on the responsible for the effect of law that we are here today to celebrate, gayle hoffmann. we thank you for everything that you did 20 years ago and everything leading up to it that put us in the position to celebrate the effectiveness of everything you helped us to accomplish. and partners from other organizations that are represented here today devoted , they truly are our boots on the ground, making the voice of the american public heard. and of course, sarah brady, and her husband, jim, who is certainly here with us today in spirit, as you know, sarah. it is sarah and jim's legacy of success that really brings us here today.

this very day 20 years ago, the brady law took effect. and as chronicled in our report, it changed what was really a line by system that allowed dangerous criminals and other dangerousy access to weapons. now thanks to the brady law and thanks to sarah and gayle's work and the work of organizations, every licensed firearm dealer runs a background check before a buyer can walk away with a gun. the numbers you will find in our report speak for themselves. thanks to the brady group -- the brady background checks, 2 million gun purchases have been prohibited for purchase for felons and other abusers. blockady background check thesengerous attempts by people everyday. this includes 170 one attempts by felons denied every day, 48 domestic abusers denied every

day, 19 fugitives denied every day. background checks work. lives a result, countless have been saved and crimes have been prevented. you only need to look at the dramatic decline in homicides since the brady law took effect when he years ago for evidence of its -- took effect 20 years ago for evidence of its profound impact. is that aso revealed lot has changed in the world in last 20 years and new and dangerous loopholes have emerged that allow criminals and domestic abusers, the same dangers people that would be denied a gun at a licensed firearm dealer because of the brady law, it allows them easy access to as many guns as they want without a background check, no question asked. this includes gun shows, which have basically become mega malls filled with unlicensed gun sellers not covered by the brady law, and too many most alarmingly, it includes the internet, which no one could

have imagined when the original brady law was passed. where together with gun shows, thousands of guns are bought and sold every day without background checks. today, you can find guns for sale on websites like arms list.com where at this very moment you can go on there and there are up to 70,000 guns for sale without background checks, many of which are promoted, advertising that you can buy a gun there without a background check. even sites like facebook and instagram, sites where millions of american children spend hours every day have become popular places to buy and sell guns. as you see behind me, these loopholes are very real and

zena was a victim of domestic violence. she took out a restraining order on her husband, which meant he could not buy a gun at a federally licensed dealer. instead, he went online and purchased a semi-automatic handgun from an unlicensed seller, no questions asked. he used the gun to murder her and two of her coworkers in 2012. the stories of zena, along with alex's sister -- they are told in this report. more than any statistic, these tragedies underscore the importance of our work. why we cannot give up, why we will not give up until we finish the job and expand review background checks to all gun sales so others do not have to experience the tragedy and loss that these families and too many others have come to know.

and so we can all live in the nation that we all want and deserve. another tragic story is about the murder of ricky birdsong. i am now honored to introduce his wife, to share his important story in her own words. carolyn? >> i met ricky when i was 16 years old. we were both juniors in high school and i knew he was the man for me. sure enough, when we both graduated from college, we got married and he began a 19 year career as a college basketball coach. eventually ending up at northwestern university in evanston, illinois. then, on july 2, 1999, the american dream that we had been living became the american nightmare, when a young man who was a member of a neo-nazi hate group came to our neighborhood and, as my husband was outside

jogging, my eight-year-old son was on his bike, my 10-year-old daughter was on her rollerblades -- this man came through and sprayed bullets at the three of them. one of those bullets struck my husband and he did die. as the news spread about ricky being shot, calls were coming to me and people were asking, they just assumed, knowing the nature of the work my husband did, that he was on the south side of chicago. when i told them that he was just one block from our home, they were like "what?" that is unbelievable. it is. and now i think about all of the

random acts of gun violence. it could happen to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. at a mall, in the movies, at school. walking in your neighborhood, your quiet neighborhood. i am just hopeful that one day, and that day will come soon in america, when no dangerous person can buy a gun. these random acts of violence can be prevented. thank you. >> i had the pleasure of getting to know her a little bit and she has what, in our opinion, is one of the most important jobs. she is a teacher. it is both her day job as well as her very important extracurricular job. we want to thank you for

everything that you do to teach our nation not only the tragedy of gun violence, but how it is really preventable by keeping guns out of dangerous hands and for having the courage to share your story again and again. everyone that is taught and needs to be taught, is taught. thank you. now it is my honor to introduce the person whose job we are really here to finish. the person who, together with her husband, jim, their names are on the original law that we are here to celebrate today. somebody that i can tell you i am seeing in the halls everyday. she serves as a constant reminder of what we have the potential to achieve and a constant inspiration in terms of the perseverance that it takes and what ultimately can be achieved.

sarah brady. >> thank you, dan. i especially want to thank all of the people who are such a great help to us over the years. victims -- over the last 25 years, i have seen more victims of gun violence than i would ever want. law enforcement has been totally behind us and with us and fought for us. this is chief jim johnson. we always have to think our leaders in congress. speaker pelosi has been there all the way and so has representative thompson. we thank you for your leadership. it took as seven years to get the brady bill enacted. through three presidents.

it was hard work, but it was a very uplifting thing to do. every day that we were working on it, we knew that we were going to win. it was the david and goliath type of issue. it did not take long for the american public, the press, to realize how hard a fight it was for us. we kept it up, and with the help of my friend gayle over there -- she was with me every day as we tromped these halls of congress, meeting with the members. also, working in their districts, going back to our targeted member districts and speaking and doing editorials, coordinating.

seven years, it was hard work. but it was fun. we were so proud of the day when we first passed it. then we had to re-pass it again three years later. then it was signed by president clinton and became law. enacted 20 years ago. the one thing i want to do is encourage everybody in the future that is working on this important issue -- it is important. to include all sales and background checks. you have just heard the reason why. several examples of it -- the internet and gun shows. i want to encourage everybody that just because there's a public outcry does not mean that we are going to get a bill passed. it takes work and it takes time.

it takes persistence. with that, we will win again. i have no doubt whatsoever. it will be a proud day and i want come back over here the day passes. i promise i will not leave until then. [applause] jim wanted me to give everybody a big hello. he is sorry he could not be here today. it is a little hard for him to travel anymore. for those of you who helped us, thank you so very much. for those of you on the brady staff, the president and everybody else who is working on it now, i see they have got -- we're going to win and finish the job. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, sarah. one of the more inspiring things

in addition to the success you have achieved, is reminder of how much fun you had. we plan to continue that legacy us well in our pursuit of this change. those charged with the protection and safety of our communities no support is more important for expanded background checks than the support of the law enforcement community. the voice of law enforcement was critical to passing the original brady law and it will beep critical to passing this. we are grateful to have such strong representation from law-enforcement. i am pleased to introduce baltimore county police chief and sheriff chief jim johnson. >> good morning. it is quite an honor to speak briefly this morning on behalf of law-enforcement across this great nation. as you have heard, i am the chair of the national law

enforcement partnership to prevent gun violence. we are an alliance of nine national law enforcement leadership organizations, including the commission of accreditation for law enforcement agencies, the hispanic american police command officers association, the international association of law enforcement administrators, the chief of police, the major city police association, the national association of women, the national association of black law enforcement executives, the police executive research forum, and the police foundation. you can see the influence of this board of law-enforcement leaders across america. i am proud to stand here today with sarah brady. she, along with her husband jim, have made a remarkable contribution to this nation.

law enforcement are with sarah and jim to get a brady law enacted. unquestionably, this law has had an incredible impact on public safety. you have saved my fellow police officers and citizens across america. i am very proud of that. [applause] background checks block more than 2 million prohibited gun purchases. there is no way to quantify completely the law that has resulted from this. we have heard the tremendous impact. i think it is safe to say that these 2 million guns could have resulted in 2 million catastrophes.

clearly, the brady law has reduced access to firearms by those legally not permitted to possess them. there are other avenues for dangerous purchasers who acquire these firearms. in baltimore county, i lost an officer four months ago due to an illegally obtained firearm. we have to shut things down. this is what leaders are asking you to do. up to 40% of purchases take place between private parties without a license dealer. they require no background check at all. as we have warned, this is tantamount to allowing passengers to board an airplane without going through security screening. would we do that? the honor system would not work at airports and it just does not work with buying guns. we should take the obvious and reasonable step of requiring background checks for all sales. background checks for all sales, it is just that simple. this is not just common sense, our lives depend on it.

thank you. [applause] >> thank you, chief. our next speaker is one of the great leaders in congress on this issue and the expansion of background checks, representative mike thompson of california. along with representative keating of new york, he is chief sponsor of hr1565, the house version of the expanded background check bill that our organization is working so hard to support. on behalf of our one million members and supporters and all of the victims and families that you see here today and across the country, we appreciate your leadership. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much for what you do. sarah, thank you. carolyn, you are such an

important voice. thank you for your public service and courage to come out and do this. it takes a big person to be willing to stand up and speak out on this issue. leader pelosi, thank you. she has been fantastic. if it were speaker pelosi, we would not be here. this would have already been signed into law. for all of the families, you call yourself survivors. you are just absolutely fantastic. the courage that you show is important. we hear too often the numbers, 12,000 people killed by someone with a firearm since sandy hook.

those numbers are numbing. the fact of the matter is, those numbers stand for the people and families we see standing with us today. it affects the lives of real people in a very, very tragic way. we need to do something about it. dan mentioned the bill we have with representative king, a republican from new york. the bill is pro-second amendment. it does not take guns away. it just requires that people purchase a firearm through commercial sale, have to have a background check, to make sure they are not criminals, to make sure they are not dangerously mentally ill. how anybody could be against that is completely beyond me. it took six years and seven votes to pass the brady bill. that bill had 155 co-authors. if the speaker would put our bill on the floor, it would take one vote to pass it. we have 180 nine co-authors, and

a stream of people who have already told us they will vote for this. all we need is a vote. this thing would get passed, and get past today. we are not interested in quitting. we are going to stick with this. i will join in the chorus to say we need to finish the jobs. thank you very much. [applause] >> i am honored to introduce someone who is one of the great leaders in this nation, period. nowhere is that more evident than, leader pelosi, your leadership on behalf of all americans to end this senseless gun violence in the nation. leader pelosi's commitment to this issue is great, genuine, and truly inspiring to those of us who share your commitment to making this a safer nation. like thank you very much, dan,

for your generous introduction. it is with great humility that i come here today. humility in the face of the loss you all have suffered. sherilyn had such generosity of spirit to tell her story again and again, to turn her grief into safety for so many people. i wish or need to be here did not exist, but you are, and thank you. to be with sarah and jim brady in the 1990's was to learn a lot about the gospel, which says that when christ was out of heaven, the apostles said to him, teach us how to pray. he said, ask and you shall receive. seek, and you shall find. knock, and the door will be opened to you. it is that persistence of prayer

that was the lesson of christ. that was the work of sarah and jim brady. they knocked on more doors, asked more people for votes. they sought out those votes, and always with the greatest humor and goodwill. friendship never left their voices, even though they, better than anyone, new the seriousness of the task. the brady campaign has been a force for good and making a difference in our country. it is remarkable how many lives have been saved. and who would have thought that the internet, which should be our friend in this -- that would have been something that would facilitate background checks. it became a place where people could buy guns in an unidentified way.

we have to expand the background check to cover gun shows and the internet. our friend, mr. mike thompson, working with peter king of new york, has a bipartisan bill to do that. if we take this bill up on the floor, it will pass. the votes are there. the american people are more than they are. -- more than there. 70%, even, of members of the nra, on this piece of gun violence prevention. that is what mr. thompson's bill is. i am honored to be here with the chief, "we speak baltimore." i know what courage it takes. baltimore county is a place where he is a leader and a teacher on this subject. i had the privilege of being with him when he was recognized for his work on the violence

against women act. these things come together so well. chief, thank you for your courage and leadership. mike thompson is just a veteran, a wounded veteran, a gun owner, a hunter. carolyn mccarthy said to me, i want to thank you for one thing. and that is appointing mike thompson to head the task force. you know what sarah mccarthy's commitment is to this issue. that is the best possible complement. everything has been said. i know we have the votes. we want to vote. we want to finish the job. when we do in the house, it will pass in the senate. one of the excuses people use is, it is not going to be placed in the house, so why should i vote for it in the senate? this is within reach. all we have to do is knock, and

that persistence will pay off. we are not going away. anybody who thinks we are celebrating anniversaries and then tomorrow going to something else -- we are not going on to something else. i asked my staff to bring this over. the other day, i had a visit from the boy scouts. they bring their annual report to the leader's office, and the speaker's office as well. there was a little boy who was a boy scout, and he gave me his patch, and it says, never forgotten, sandy hook, connecticut, pack 170. he was a student at sandy hook. that little boy is now incorporating into his boy scout life -- that is wonderful, but

too bad it has come to that. how can we possibly face ourselves? we take an oath at the beginning of every congress. most people do who are in any public service, to protect and defend. that is our oath. jim and sarah brady have helped us honor that oath. we thank them for that. we thank them for the millions of -- who knows how many purchases would have resulted in how many injuries? but hundreds of thousands, or a million. we thank them for that will stop . we thank them for their persistence, for never going away. this is our responsibility to our children. imagine the courage of them coming out to tell their stories, to stir that all up. i think it is almost unimaginable, as a mother and a grandmother. i hope that, with all the humility in the world, because how can we face you until we have legislation that is law,

that is policy, that improves the safety of the american people? it is with the deepest gratitude to jim and sarah brady, but also to dan gross for turning his personal sorrow into leadership to save lives. thank you, all of you. >> thank you, leader pelosi, representative thomson, stephen chief johnson, all of our partners from law enforcement and other organizations, and of course the families, for being here and sharing your story. you are making a difference. our team is now going to hand deliver this report to members of congress, so they can see for themselves the lifesaving impact the brady law has had since it came into effect 20 years ago. the fact is, more than 2 million

purchases have been blocked by felons, domestic abusers, fugitives, and other people we all agree are dangerous. that is 343 blocked purchases every day, all thanks to the work of jim and sarah brady, our predecessors at this organization, and the leadership we got in congress from leaders like leader pelosi. but as we have heard from victims today, there is still a lot of work to be done. more than anything else, we hope these stories and this report sends another powerful call to action, one that cannot be ignored, for congress to finish the job and expand brady background checks to all gun sales. states that have answered this call and expanded background checks -- this is where you can

start to quantify the impact we have talked about. in states that have passed these laws, 38% fewer women are murdered by intimate partners. 39% fewer police officers are murdered with handguns. think of the lives that could be saved if congress would step up and follow suit. as has been mentioned, chains like this does not happen overnight. it took six votes over seven years to pass the original brady law. but make no mistake -- we have momentum on our side. there are those who do not want you to think that we do, but we do. momentum the likes of which this issue has not seen in years. last year alone, eight states passed major gun reforms, including new background checks. for new states will see 38% fewer women killed by their intimate partners, 39% fewer police officers killed with

handguns. even the vote in the senate last year, which a lot of people took as a defeat -- it was a heartbreaking defeat. i sat in the gallery with sarah. she said, sometimes it takes a good loss. and she was right. i was so upset, i was starting to tear up. sarah was coming in, in a consolation role. i thought about it, and she is right. that is the tragedy that galvanized the american public. that is the tragedy that finally called our attention to what is really going on in congress, and the support we have seen from the 30,000 calls we were able to put in congress, the sustained support. this is a campaign now.

change did not happen afternoon town and now it is over? this is a campaign to finish the job. we are not going anywhere until we do finish the job. to sum up, i will leave you with this. in the short time we have stood here today, brady background checks have blocked 14 gun sales to prohibited purchasers, like convicted felons and domestic abusers. there is a good chance that lives have been saved as a result. at the same time, for more lives have been lost to gun violence. for more families have been introduced to the same indescribable tragedy as the families you see here today. it is time to finish the job and expand effective brady background checks to all gun sales. we will be happy to disperse among you and answer any questions and have any conversations you might be interested in having. thank you all for being here. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

>> john will be speaking later today to aipac at 5:00 p.m. here on c-span. he is leaving for ukraine after the speech. "politico" has the story that he .ill head to ukraine to meet his travel comes as president obama discusses the situation ukraine on sunday with angela merkel. british primewith minister david cameron and the president of poland. thecall is to point out -- russian.f the the ultimatum was issued by

alexander vitko. --they do not summoned her surrender by 5:00 to more morning, a real soul be started against units and divisions of the armed forces of cross crimea. president obama will appeal for .resident netanyahu they are meeting today at the white house. it is a critical juncture in both sets of negotiations. u.s. and its partners are in the midst of new talks. the washington area, in the middle of a major snowstorm. the federal government is close. the house announced it would not be in session. voteenate is postponing a

on the nomination of the assistant attorney general for service -- civil rights. we were and events that planning on covering have been canceled as well. >> the internet as we know it today bears no resemblance to the television service of the 1940's or 50's. what the courts have said and what congress supports is if i walk in to a grocery store and i buy a gallon of milk, i am paying 350 a gallon. 10 gallons, i pay $35 for all 10 gallons. tom wheeler wants to say you can use as much milk as you want and you only have to pay $3.50. that is wrong. netflix is the biggest user of the internet. sometimes they are as much as 30% of the total volume of the internet.

obviously, they should pay more than someone who uses the internet once a month. i am being very simplistic. that is the genesis. these companies have spent billions of dollars to set up their systems and to provide fiber optics and all of the mega-speeds that we take for granted. at some level, they should be allowed to charge based on volume. >> tonight on "the communicators." at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. conservative activists gathered fifth anniversary of the tea party movement. speakers included michele bachmann and matt salmon of arizona. this is about 2.5 hours.

>> and all of recorded history, there is only one nation, one people that have a drain name -- a dream name for them. the american dream is synonymous with everything good. pursuing the american dream is everyght and privilege of united states citizen. for have been in business 33 years. we did it by working seven days a week, 15 to 17 hour days. >> every dream is not the same. every dream is important. it is never easy to obtain a. hard work and the willingness to fall -- hold fast to firm beliefs is the core.

today, and out-of-control government has put the american dream in jeopardy. thinkout of 10 americans it is harder to achieve the dream now than before. system, a political consistently and completely unresponsive to their needs. they see fundamental economic changes that were to erode the free enterprise system. they struggle to see a better path forward for themselves and their children. five years ago today, pursuit of that american dream awakened a passion in people they knew was deep inside them. it had never been brought to the forefront. their dream was in jeopardy. >> i am tired of the government taking money away from a. i don't want my children to be in debt or my great-grandchildren.

>> we need fiscal responsibility and fiscal accountability. >> our freedoms are being taken away. >> someone needs to tell the government we have had enough of it. brush first spark of a fire that would spread across america erupted in downtown seattle. hundreds stood up and said enough is enough. >> the government is promoting bad behavior. >> one day later, single conference calls -- conference call fanned the flame. in 48 small towns and big cities, over 30,000 people began the modern day tea party revolution.

>> it is the american dream. will tell you what i am sensing. i am sensing the effervescence, the pulse of backlash. of a revolution. a six weeks later, over hundred retests were held nationwide. people who had never joined a inse lifted their voices objection to an out-of-control government. >> i have never done anything like this. and have gone to a point or i have to do something. byamerican dreamers came car, bus, by plane, and by foot to the center washington, d.c. and made their voices heard in one of the largest protest in u.s. history. >> can you hear us now? >> patriots took their causing consternation from the halls of

congress to the streets of their hometown. free markets and other issues gave impetus to other people, getting more and more involved. in wisconsin, in washington , south,n places north east, and west, in campaign after campaign, they succeeded in sending new voices to stay -- to stateell capital, as well as capitol hill. five years later, our dreams are alive and our hopes are high. our pursuit of the american dream is stronger than ever. children, for their children, and for every generation to come, the hard work has just begun. let's build on five explosive and successful years.

let's make sure you and your family continue to have the opportunity to pursue your american dream. tea party patriots, pursue your american dream. ♪ bethease welcome jenny martin. [applause] >> thank you. good morning.

happy anniversary and welcome to washington, d.c. visitors, we walk along constitution avenue towards the white house and we see on the left, a national monument, memorials to those who defended our freedom. on the right, we see block after block of government office buildings another kind of monument to the vast and cwerful government that onsumes and spends our tax dollars. this is what gave rise to the tea party. we thinkre today and about what we see in washington, d.c. we know we have a lot to do. reasonse have so many to be excited. today is an exciting day.

our movement has become so influential and so big that we can attract influential speakers. we will not lose focus on our members. we would not be here today if it were not for you. let's give you a round of applause. [no audio] [applause] you want to pursue your american dream. every day, you champion freedom.

there was a protest in seattle, washington. yay, for kelly. he had ahereafter, call to action. he said let's have a tea party and did we ever. napellhe pell -- rob the pe got us on twitter and then we got on a conference call as we planned and organized. got us organize through smart girl politics. we turned a movement -- a moment

in time into a movement. you're going to hear from leaders, like woody. he did what many said could not be done. went in the state of washington and got responsible candidates elected in the metro seattle area. you will hear from our ohio state coordinator and she was recently elected to her school board. so much about our country that she has turned her passion into public service of the local level.

you will hear from a man who delivers. he works for a huge shipping company and he volunteers his time at night and on the weekend. -- this vietnam vet has organized some of the most inspirational tea parties around the country and has become a well-known tea party speaker. you have a great day ahead of you today. get excited and be inspired. [applause] most of all, think about how you can take what you're learning here and share it with others beyond our normal circles. most americans want the same things we do. most americans want personal freedom, and aic debt free future. [applause]

learnedke what we have and what we learn here today and share with them so that they can understand that together, we can get there. thank you. [applause] >> please welcome host of the david west show -- the david webb show, david webb. [applause] the coordinator .or tea party patriots author michaelhe patrick leahy.

the founder of smart girl politics. >> why are you standing? this is serious business, but not that serious. all of the years that we cause trouble around this country, long before the tea party movement, the one thing we had to do was laugh. your craft, you had to do it right, you had to be involved, you had to be committed. you had to have fun. the first thing i want you to do is remember this is not some cracker barrel crowd.

feel free to enjoy it and do all of the things that we use to tell you, tweak, text, talk low if you have to. make snarky comments, we are good about that. these are people that are fighting. how many of you people never the phrase happy warriors? are you happy warriors? all right, then we're in the right place. we have a great panel. i play a great moderator. let's get started. stacy, founder and president of smart girl politics. michael patrick leahy. i put up with him at breitbart. he tells me in writing that everything i do is wrong. i'll pick on you a little bit. a former improv person.

be yourself. let loose. let's get right to it. rickl talk about santelli's rant and how that played out. it was a moment in america where -- go back and watch the video. it is the people around him. ers, peopletrad who are in the financial industry. they cheered. no party registration mattered at that moment. he talked about something fundamental. very fundamental. the numbers. what it means. the redistribution, what it means. the words are important. the video matters. lead to where we are right now. it was one of those seminal moments.

whether you came late to the , that is the success of the tea party movement. more people today and tomorrow will come to it. let's get started. first there was a phone call. february 20. ladies first. tell us what happened. we were talking about how organic it was. i did not hear rick that morning. i heard my e-mail lighting up. is something we need to do. we need to take hold of this.

i said this was something new for us, what should we do before. michael put together the first phone call, but it was an organic thing. people were all over twitter, saying this is the start of something and we need to capitalize on. let's start with kelly. she held the first protest. let's talk about that event. >> we were protesting the stimulus bill. i looked back at my log of the time. >> bloggers and their phone. >> i don't have time to write a blog anymore. i said make number store --

mistake, the president will sign a bill tomorrow. maybe we can start a movement that will snowball and people out of their homes. we will redirect the country to its founding in suppose of liberty and freedom. [applause] >> pretty good, isn't it? do you remember what i said about laughing? continue. let's get a little bit more about the phone call. think the a model, i big donation was $300 that your parents spent on the microphone 40. for you. >> it was out of the koch brothers checkbook. >> glenn reynolds had covered

the protest. americans had been unhappy with what had been going on in washington since the bailout. everyone remembers what happened familyesident bush's said that i have abandon the principles of free-market to save the free-market. did that make any sense to you? no. it made sense to john mccain and barack obama. we had an election and we lost. knew and what stacy knew and what kelly knew as this. agree.ns did not of americansllions who believed in constitution of limited government, but nobody in washington was representing us. what we did was we started three separate online communities of

conservatives. calledom started a group "don't go." it was telling congress to not go before it did its business. in late november, i put up a list on twitter. at the time, --. something.ad that list went from 25 people to 1500 people in 72 hours. does that tell you something? i was trying to do this manually and i could not. i put out a call on twitter and i got a couple of folks that .reated technology solutions we had a list that was automatically updated.

there were hundreds of people added to this. one of the members of that group , at the time, 78-year-old b eulla garrett suggested we should have a #. .- a hashtag toc.created # >> did she get her check? let's start with stacy on the other end. this movement surprise the nation. i say it wasn't much of a surprise. what surprised you about this organic growth and explosion? >> how quickly a group. onm that first steep already

february 20 72 a few short party later -- first tea on february 27 two a few short months later. kelly naipaul yesterday. one of the big surprises was the attack towards us yesterday. the hate mail that we started to get, the coordinated tax on us. -- coordinated attacks on us. whether it was social media, e-mail, whatever was, the attacks on us and being moms and our children. that was surprising. women pay greater attention -- then men do. they are at home as the ceos and they are in the borglum. women play a large role in this

movement. you, what was that surprise like? i look into a sea of people in not mostlyd i saw, old white men with all of the white men and the obvious -- in the audience, but i saw a lot of women that were out there and involved in this. they biggest surprise was attacks. i had never been called a racist in my life before. i am not. my parents, they march for civil rights. they were dumbfounded. have to work so hard to overcome that. i am surprised with how much of a barrage of attacks we are

under, not only from the democrats, but the republicans and the permanent political class. that we still have an open door was summoning people and we can still talk to them. i think that shows the power of conservatism and the power of our ideas. when they poll, people agree with our ideas. the fact that they agree with our ideas, maybe they do not know a lot about us based on the name tea party, but they know and agree with this. surprising considering how much work the other side has put into demonizing us. >> there was an evolution. like any movement, the nationstate was -- what happened? people didn't know why they were protesting.

of an teaan evolution party movement. i call of the nation stage. there was the pubescent stage where we were getting things done, but we were not quite sure. and study theolve policies, read the bills, do the things that they would not do in washington on either side of the aisle. michael, evolution, what was that from your perspective. you said something very important. read the bills. congress was not reading the bills. the constitution says that congress should understand the bills they write and pass. they were not doing that job. it started with an online community. top conservatives on twitter form a community of average americans who understood and agreed with american values. the first thing we did was have the conference calls, free

technology, we had about it the people on that call. a lot of them are leaders today. jenny beth martin was on the call. ,ill hennessy and dana lasch christie the boat terry -- christina boterry. [applause] as it turns out, these calls would happen so quickly. said let's start a call. all we did was start a call. i just sent out a tweet, call tonight, here's the number.

we started with the rallies. that was the first level of evolution. they have all taken specific areas of focus and that is the direction we're going. be >> we started. then it expanded. there were groups all over this country in just about every way possible. in new york city, who would have ever thought there could be a tea party. in boston, it is a very liberal city. it's evolution group. everyone knows that is why they had to start paying attention. there are people that try to use the tea party, but the growth is never limited. government, but not limited citizen participation.

was there something in the evolution that you found new? you are a concerned american? one of the things that we got really quickly was that it was not an individual movement as much as it was a movement. we may have had that first phone call that we saw quickly how things spread and how people in individual communities took hold. you look at how many tea party organizations there are around the country and this did bloom from the first phone call. economy and how individuals took what we started with one phone call and ran with it, now you have these organizations in washington, new jersey, or in new york. we have organizations all over the country. that is not because of us that is because -- because of us, that is because people want to make a difference. evolution and wha